Sunday, June 29, 2014

Elle Beyer is Co-Founder of Free Flow Academy, founding member of Eagle & Hawk PK, and founding member of NeoFlow Parkour. She is a serial entrepreneur, mother of 4, and has a physical fitness background of 14+ years Kung Fu and Martial Arts, and 25+ years of movement arts experience. She has been training under the direction of business partner Corey Romines in the discipline of Parkour for 3 years. She also has an entertainment background (under the name Elle Bennett), having traveled the world as a working stunt woman, actress, model, and sports newscaster/journalist. She believes in creating the holistic athlete/artist and growing specific industries that have the potential to fill current needs while promoting overall health, longevity, environmental awareness, community, and humanity. Bruce Lee's teachings heavily influence Elle's philosophies on the learning and growth of an artist.

She is an accomplished entrepreneur in terms of social and environmental impact and creating sustainable business plans and models.

She is the guiding force behind Free Flow Academy in terms of overall vision, creating additional and sustainable revenue streams, market research analysis, and shaping the industry in a way that has a positive impact that is unique in style, but fundamental in form.

Aside from her own companies, she has also worked extensively in the non-profit sector, creating and orchestrating fitness, artistic, and leadership programs for youth, as well as designing and coordinating events, camps, and overall business models and structures to promote cost effective, and affordable programming. She has worked for some of the largest Non-Profit Corporations in the world (Girl Scouts of America), as well as one of the largest media corporations in the world (Clear Channel). Her and husband Lon Beyer remain active members of their church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), and raise their 4 children together.

Lon Beyer has been training in movement arts for 30+ years. His interest in Kung Fu was first introduced when he was given lessons by his Uncle who was at the time a General and Kung Fu instructor for the Taiwanese military. His energy for the martial arts expanded to the study of many styles, including Ninjitsu, in which he achieved black belt status, and TKD, in which he achieved a 1st Degree black belt status, in addition to his achievements in Kung Fu, which earned him instructor status. He has also participated in numerous styles including Kickboxing, Grappling, Weapons, and more. In his early years, he achieved an Eagle Scout Award, and served and completed a 2 year mission for his church. He served in Taiwan, is also bilingual, speaking both English and Mandarin Chinese. He also traveled the world extensively, all throughout Asia and worked as a professional stuntman and actor. His experience in fitness and youth education started while he was working in Los Angeles, he implemented and orchestrated the physical education programs for dozens of K-8th grade schools in and around Los Angeles County. He personally served and taught thousands of students in over a dozen school districts.

Lon Beyer is Co-Founder of Free Flow Academy and collaborates with Corey Romines, and Elle Beyer and other members of the Free Flow Academy team to develop a system involving the use of parkour and martial arts to form a discipline that is focused on self-defense and the usage of the fight or flight response. He also oversees the internal operations of the company having 10+ years in the legal and insurance industries. He is a major proponent in the expansion of Free Flow Academy in terms of franchising, national, and international growth, and has served as a consultant to a variety of other parkour gyms that have formed in the United States.

The founders of Free Flow Academy would like to offer up a dialogue on what we do, how we serve, and how we contribute to the various industries of Movement Arts.

Our approach is to offer Disciplines of Motion and Disciplines of
Creation in a diverse variety. We offer a holistic approach to the
athlete and artist. For general health and longevity, exercise and proper nutrition is
essential, as well as finding a creative outlet.

Free Flow
Academy is a training and production facility for those looking to
develop and improve their talents. We are a literal Hybrid Arts training center centered on the flowing disciplines of Parkour, Freerunning, Tumbling, Martial Arts, Aerial Arts, Acting, Music, and more.

Our business model was designed to be a cross between a Beijing Opera School and Hollywood Stunt Gym. Our studies abroad, mainly in China and Europe, and having the chance to work with a variety of talent from all over the world gave us insight into the needs of how fitness and recreation should be addressed in the U.S. During our studies in China, we trained with the Shaolin Monks, as well as the top athletes from various prestigious schools from every province in China. We gathered information from students from various styles of Kung Fu Academies, as well as Beijing Opera Schools. Being huge fans of Jackie Chan, we were particularly intrigued by the students of Beijing Opera Schools. They were very well rounded, and highly sophisticated. We found it interesting that they studied a focus of what we came to know as "the 4 fundamental disciplines", which we recognized as Martial Arts, Dance, Music, and Acting. Those fundamental disciplines, can be broken down even further, which we came to recognize as simply: Movement and Expression.

During study in Europe we were able to gain valuable insight into the evolving movement of Parkour. Parkour is what we consider an evolved movement discipline, in that it has taken from a variety of existing movement arts, such as rock climbing, gymnastics, martial arts, and natural movement. This hybrid of movement, fine tuned, and directed towards creating a holistically strong, acrobatic, mobile, and agile athlete captivated our attention, and we highly respect and regard the pioneers in the industry as some of the most considerably talented athletes of our century.

Movement and Expression came to be our approach. We found that we enjoyed the community and flexibility of the Hollywood Stunt Gym vibe. Artists and Athletes from all over the world, from all walks of life, congregate to these gyms and "jam", share talent and moves, and then we see it explode on the big screen. We wanted Parkour to be our showpiece, as it encourages athletes to overcome their obstacles, mentally and physically - which is an important message that should be shared on a daily basis. We wanted to create this type of community and mecca for innovation. So we brought to you Free Flow Academy - where movement, creation, and innovation are intertwined.

We are very pleased to serve our community in the capacity that we do, however, our overall Vision for Free Flow Academy, is a large one! We hope to share a piece of that vision, and unfold it here as we reach each stage of development.
Enthusiastically Yours,